"It's a pleasure to shake hands with a man like Ovechkin."

The KHL is in the midst of the playoffs. On April 11, the second round begins, and a number of relegated clubs summarize the results of the first season. Among them is Severstal Cherepovets, whose head coach Andrey Kozyrev once again showed his ability to play beautiful combination hockey, which helped the team from the Vologda region to win many bright victories over top clubs in the regular season and take sixth place in it - above the super—rich St. Petersburg SKA.

However, due to a series of defensive mistakes and poor offensive execution, Severstal lost the first round series to Spartak Moscow in five matches. In an interview with Izvestia, Cherepovets forward Nikolai Chebykin, who transferred from Sochi during the regular season, appreciated the past season for his team, explained how the style of play under Andrey Kozyrev differs from others, and also shared his emotions from the fact that Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky's record for goals in regular NHL championships.

— What prevented us from winning the series with Spartak or at least prolonging it for a long time?

— It's hard to say. We made a lot of unnecessary mistakes, made failures in certain segments, which led to defeats. Take for example the last fifth game, when we led 2-0 after the first period, conceded three goals in a short time. Although before that we acted well, controlled the game, outplayed the opponent. But we conceded three quick goals, and then everyone saw everything.

And something similar happened to us in all the lost matches of the series — we concede goals in series, then we make mistakes in our own zone, then we poorly realize our chances at the wrong goal. I don't know what this is about. But it's connected to something.

— What should be done to avoid repeating mistakes in the future?

— To train.

"Haven't you practiced enough?"

— So it's not enough, since this is the result.

— How would you personally rate your performance last season?

— The end of the regular season was not bad for me. Everything ended better than it started. After the exchange, I went uphill, so to speak. But I failed the playoff series.

— How quickly did Severstal adapt to the game system under Andrey Kozyrev?

— I don't know. People know better from the outside. But from the inside, I can say that I immediately liked everything. I really enjoyed playing the hockey that Andrei Leonidovich puts on.

— You used to play in the KHL in more systematic teams like Admiral and Dynamo Moscow. What is fundamentally new about Kozyrev?

— Kozyrev also has a system at Severstal. It's just that it's not vertical, like Leonid Grigorievich's and Alexey Nikolaevich's. There is a lot of work to be done here, to move, to open up. So we have a system, but it just looks like it doesn't exist. In fact, this is not the case — we have very long game reviews, constant demands on when and where you should open up, where you should run and give passes. It's just that in Cherepovets we tried not to throw the puck, not to make the so-called run in advance, as in Admiral and Dynamo.

— For those who don't understand hockey terminology, what is running in advance?

— This is when you run forward, and you have to throw the puck there. And in Cherepovets you try to play the pass.

— Is this the first team in your career where you have to try to play a pass?

— At the adult level, there were no teams in which I played such hockey. I played something similar in the children's "Polar Bears" with Gennady Gennadyevich Kurdin. It's very similar to Soviet hockey.

"It felt like the whole country was worried and rooting for me"

Alexander Ovechkin — about the end of the great chase, an accidental celebration and numerous congratulations from the stars of world sports

— What do you think about your future?

— I don't know anything, my contract is ending — I haven't signed anything yet.

— As a former Dynamo player, what emotions do you feel from Ovechkin's record, which recently broke Gretzky's record?

— Of course, I followed him. I think the whole world was watching, as it always does with Ovechkin. Many people used to follow him, and even more so now.

— When you were in the Dynamo Moscow system, did you cross paths with him? Didn't he often come to his hometown club for a summer vacation?

— He didn't talk to me personally, but he shook my hand. It's very nice to be in the locker room with such a person and shake hands.

— How did he achieve such success?

— The legend is just alive. That's all. It's very nice to watch him.